Paul Brady

Grand Canal Theatre

HOMETOWN GIGS can be a mixed blessing. On the up side, you are usually playing to the converted; on the down side expectations can be simply too high.

That certainly seemed to be the case when a bright and energetic Paul Brady and his accomplished band played the first of two nights at the swish Grand Canal Theatre in Dublin on Friday.

In a way calling Dublin his hometown is a bit problematic for this resolute Northerner for whom a sense of place and belonging looms large in his songs.

At one stage during the 90-minute plus performance, at a time when the buoyant opening mood had slackened somewhat, a voice in the audience asked him if he knew the score in reference to the Leinster rugby match down the road.

“Do I look like I care,” he snapped. “I’m from Ulster.”

It was a blip indicative of frustration as what had seemed at the outset like a celebration of this mercurial singer-songwriter’s ample talents, became more laboured in the middle of the set.

Perhaps it was his decision to anchor the performance in the mainly excellent, if unfamiliar, songs of his new impressive album, Hooba Dooba,but audience and performer failed to properly connect before the old reliables of Nothing But The Same Old Story, The Islandand a cracking solo Lakes of Pontchartrainsparked everyone to life.

The sound didn’t help. In acapella and solo performances it was delightfully crystal clear, but there was a definite muddiness when the band muscled in.

By the closing Homes of Donegal, in which Brady namechecked what seemed like every town in the county, making places like Muff and Bundoran seem like exotic staging posts in a voyage of memory, the audience had found their voice to acclaim a performance that could have been better judged, but also was deserving of greater support. It takes two to tango.

Brady’s band included on backing vocals Sarah Siskind, a rising star in the American firmament. Earlier, during a short opening set, she showed a steely nerve, a beautifully clean voice and a range of songs worth hearing again.

One to watch.